Epilepsy is for Cowards
WipEout HD is everything you imagined it would be.
Published: October 7, 2008
The WipEout series is known for delivering impressive sound, especially in the area of music. WipEout HD ably upholds this tradition. The nine included electronic dance tracks were all previously in WipEout Pulse, but now have the added bonus of 5.1 surround mixing. If slamming synthetic beats aren't your thing, or if you simply want more than what is on offer here, then the custom soundtrack feature should come in handy. Accessed through the game's menus rather than the in-game XMB, the audio options allow the user to select playlists from the system's hard drive. WipEout HD includes a set of music effects which alter the music based on environmental factors. These include a reverb effect when racing through tunnels, a dramatic filter tweak when getting major air and more. These effects can be disabled if you prefer your music to be unmolested.
The various craft have unique and interesting engine sounds, with an especially satisfying boom when the thrusters are engaged. Weapons have a suitably punchy visual and aural impact. Cool futuristic sounds emanate from points in the environment; even the civilian craft mentioned earlier make noise as they putter around.
Special mention must be made of the superbly designed menus. Poking around the front end immediately immerses you in the cold high tech world of WipEout. The typographical choices are stellar as always. (Well, OK, maybe things were a little too hard to read in WipEout 3. At least it looked cool!)
The meat of the experience is in the Career mode, which presents a series of event groups of escalating difficulty and speed in which all of the race types are mixed together. It is structured in fundamentally the same manner as the grids in WipEout Pulse. The race types found herein are Single Race, Tournament, Time Trial, Speed Lap, and the fan-favorite Zone Mode. Single Race and Tournament are the only weapon-enabled modes (sorry Pulse fans, there is no Eliminator this time around); the others are all about speed.
Zone is particularly notable, as it drastically alters the look of the game. In this mode, you begin the race slowly, and the ship gradually increases in speed until its inevitable destruction. As you fly along, the world is awash in shifting colors that change at various intervals. Embedded in the surface of the track and in certain other spots in the environment is a spectrum analyzer effect that throbs along with the music. It makes for an intense and unique experience that fulfills the promise of the mode's name.
Outside of the career there is the Racebox, which allows you to slap together custom races with content that has been unlocked in the Career. This is where the two player split screen option is found. Split screen works, though as mentioned earlier it is not quite as smooth as fullscreen play. Both horizontal and vertical split modes are offered.
Further multiplayer action is available in the form of online play, which mostly works admirably. The way the game handles latency allows for a smooth racing experience. When lag does come into play, it manifests as other players warping around a bit, which is a worthy sacrifice.
While the online racing itself is fantastic, getting there leaves a lot to be desired. Browsing and joining available games is painless enough, but upon the completion of an event, everyone is dumped unceremoniously back to the browsing interface. It would be nice if people could stick around for a rematch. It would be even nicer if it was possible to invite friends into a game. That's right, there is no invite system in WipEout HD. This is a bizarre and frustrating omission.
Participation in a race, be it online or off, yields a substance that you will learn to crave called Loyalty Points. Each team (which essentially means each ship) has a meter that fills up with these points, and there are rewards for reaching certain milestones. These rewards are thus far known to include extra skins for the ships and alternative HUDs.
